The invention relates to a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, with a physical onboard power supply system and with at least one electrical energy source, wherein electrical consumers are integrated in the physical onboard power supply system.
A vehicle electrical onboard power supply system is usually configured according to the prior art such that energy sources in the vehicle, such as a generator and a battery, for example, can cover the requirement on electrical power by energy sinks.
However, document EP 1 361 640 B1 describes that, owing to the multiplicity of electrical consumers in a modern vehicle onboard power supply system, the operation of such consumers when the engine is switched off and the generator is stationary often leads to a discharged battery.
Document EP 1 361 640 B1 proposes temporarily disconnecting the battery from the onboard power supply system and, optionally, maintaining an electrical connection to the generator in order to charge the battery.
It is an object of the invention to describe an improved vehicle with an internal combustion engine, with a physical onboard power supply system and with at least one electrical energy source, wherein electrical consumers are integrated in the physical onboard power supply system.
This object is achieved by a vehicle as claimed in claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and developments of the invention emerge from the dependent claims.
According to the invention, when the internal combustion engine is switched off or when the internal combustion engine is running at a low rotational speed, each of the electrical consumers is assignable by a control device to either a first group of electrical consumers or a second group of electrical consumers. An electrical consumer of the first group is at least partly able to be switched on and off by a user, while an electrical consumer of the second group cannot be switched by a user. An electrical consumer which is switched on, at least partly, can be supplied with electrical power from the at least one electrical energy source.
This means that if the internal combustion engine is switched off or is running at a low rotational speed, an electrical consumer is either utilizable or not utilizable by a user of the vehicle. A utilizable consumer, if it is actually utilized, can be supplied with electrical power from an electrical energy source of the onboard power supply system. This state is referred to as “in-cab state”.
Furthermore, it is advantageous if the assignment of each one of the electrical consumers to either of the two groups takes place on a time-dependent basis.
In other words, an electrical consumer in the “in-cab state” can be utilized, at an instant of the “in-cab state” if the electrical consumer was not utilizable before this instant, or cannot be utilized by the user if said electrical consumer was utilizable before said instant.
The utilization of an electrical consumer can be determined centrally or de-centrally in the vehicle by a control unit. This depends on the availability of energy in the onboard power supply system at the instant in question and on the energy requirement of the consumers in question. In the event of a shortfall in the energy requirement of the electrical consumers, electrical consumers can be utilized according to the technical relevance or necessity thereof. By way of example, heating power of a heated seat can be reduced in favor of increasing the energy supplied to a car radio.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the assignment of an electrical consumer to one of the two groups can be displayed to the user of the vehicle.
Thus, the user can recognize, for example via a display, that a particular electrical consumer is utilizable or not utilizable at a particular instant of the “in-cab state”.
This means, according to this embodiment, that a user can directly recognize whether a particular consumer is utilizable or not utilizable at the instant in question.
Furthermore, an energy state of the at least one electrical energy source or the energy sources can be displayed to the user on a time-dependent basis.
Thus, the user can therefore recognize, for example via a display, which energy state the at least one electrical energy source or the network of a plurality of energy sources occupies in the “in-cab state.”
According to another variant of the invention, the energy state of the at least one electrical energy source or the energy sources can be displayed to the user in the form of a predicted duration at an instant, wherein the prediction is based on the power supplied to the at least partly switched-on electrical consumers at that instant. Said prediction can be updated at a regular interval, wherein said regular interval is preferably shorter than the currently displayed predicted duration. In particular, if the user switches off switched-on consumers or switches on further consumers, an updated prediction can be displayed, which updated prediction is based on the power supplied, at the instant of said consumer activation by the user, to the electrical consumers which are switched on at that time.
Thus, it can be displayed on a display to the user how long from a particular instant the electrical consumer or a group of electrical consumers are still utilizable if the utilization setting of the electrical consumer or the electrical consumers at that particular instant is maintained.
In addition, in the event of a critical energy state, the user can be prompted to start the internal combustion engine.
After the internal, combustion engine of the vehicle has been started, a generator which is mechanically coupled to the internal combustion engine can provide an additional coverage amount of electrical power.
The invention is based on the considerations set out below:
The prior art describes a conventional terminal concept of a vehicle, that is to say a switched power supply, by actuation of a start-stop key, and the further development of said concept with supply modes “park” and “drive” which are not directly switchable but can be automatically switched by the power supply system. This offers the user no comprehensible effects on the energy availability in the vehicle onboard power supply system during said modes.
Owing to the incomprehensible effects on the energy availability, the system is configured or dimensioned for an assumed worst-case utilization scenario.
It is proposed to make available the state of the onboard power supply system based on the energy availability, the state control for the availability of function and to introduce the supply mode “in-cab state”. In this case, the vehicle is used, for example, to listen to the radio, without the vehicle being under way. By way of example, the availability of function for “park”, “standard in-cab state” and “comfort in-cab state” and the state transfers are on the basis of availability criteria. For example, a first availability criterion corresponds to an energy threshold of the starting capability of the engine or vehicle. A second availability criterion corresponds to extended energy availability. It may be possible, with the help of the energy availability, to divide the “in-cab state” into substates such as “comfort in-cab state” and “standard in-cab state”, for example. “Comfort in-cab state” means a higher availability of function for the user of, for example, a heated seat or passenger-compartment air-conditioning system. The restriction of said functions such as these by the transition to “standard in-cab state” results in conservation of the energy store (for example, the battery). This can be displayed to the user, for example as state display on the basis of the energy availability as a bar or pointer. This display also includes an energy-related state transition “in-cab state” to “park”, which corresponds to an energy-related disconnection of the customer functions to ensure the starting capability of the vehicle.
Furthermore, the stepwise procedure offers the possibility, when restricting the customer functions, of bringing the systems in question into states which are optimized in terms of energy in a stepwise manner, too, or operating them there. The restriction of the dynamics to restrict the energy requirement can be mentioned as an example here.
In the event that an additional energy source, such as a range extender in the case of electric vehicles, for example, or an auxiliary heater with electrical energy generation using thermoelectric generator, is available, this can be deliberately activated by the customer requirement “comfort in-cab state.” Further, additional energy sources can be a solar module or a solar roof, but also the connection to an external energy source by cable or a contactlessly connectable energy source using, for example, inductive energy transfer.
With the degree of availability of function of the “comfort in-cab state”, the operating strategy in terms of energy is adapted and the “comfort in-cab state” functions can be experienced/utilized more often. An expansion stage consists in increasing the size of the energy store (that is to say, for example, the battery), for example in connection with a variant having special accessories.
In the case of this concept, it is advantageous that, by making the utilization more flexible, a higher degree of utilization and better availability of function of the system by the user is involved. Furthermore, the concept can be implemented in a cost-effective manner in the form of software in the vehicle. From the point of view of the customer, the transparency of the function delivery is noticeably increased.